5 Reds players, not named Joey Votto, who might not be back in 2024

2. Reds catcher Curt Casali might not be back in 2024.

This seems all but academic at this point, doesn't it? The Cincinnati Reds signed Curt Casali to be part of their catching trio in 2023. Having spend the past two seasons with the San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners, it was nice to see Casali back behind the plate for the Reds.

But Casali had been absent from the Reds lineup for the better part of two months. At one point, Casali began a rehab assignment in Triple-A, but suffered a setback of some sort and very little has been said since.

Heading into 2024, it's hard to see the Cincinnati Reds going forward with three catchers on the Opening Day roster once again. While manager David Bell was certainly able to find ways to make it work, there's no doubt that it made things more difficult that it needed to be.

Having Casali on the roster in 2023 allowed the Cincinnati coaches to see if Tyler Stephenson was able to take the beating of being the Reds everyday catcher. Stephenson has started over 75 games behind the plate and accounted for more than 700 innings as the team's backstop.

While having Stephenson behind the plate for less than 50-percent of the Cincinnati Reds' games in 2023 is not ideal, it's difficult to see the organization picking up Curt Casali's $2.5-million mutual option for next season.